Between The Lines
by itstheemcat
Summary: Kings and Queens may cling to power, and the Jesters got his call. But as you may discover the common one out ranks them all. What is It? POWER. (Contains one scene from season 1, and season 2 spoilers) Enjoy.
1. Prologue

_**Song: "Devil Inside" by London Grammar**_

 **Prologue: Dark and Sinister**

A man of twenty and eight sat in a car, waiting. Searching. Lurking. Sure of his intent, yet unsure of how he was going to carry out with his intent. He had anger and bitterness digging like a thorn in his heart, twisting and making him feel something, a feeling he could not identify as anything else but a mix of desire for what could not be and something far more darker. He stared out in the glittering streets of town, and he noted that the dark sky was clear, so clear that it seemed to be a sign of a fortuitous night. Maybe, just maybe, things would go his way tonight.

Something flashed at the corner of the lurker's eye. Or possibly... someone. It was just who he was waiting for. He hadn't expected to see him so promptly, so he got his thoughts together as quickly as he could and hurriedly caught his attention.

"Not another move, buster," he exclaimed, getting out of his car and revealing his presence to the man who had caused such anger in his life. The man's eyes widened with shock and surprise and his mouth twisted into a mocking smile.

"Riddle Man? What the hell are you doing creeping around here?" The man asked, but the lurker knew he did not care.

"You need to leave Gotham. Tonight. I won't let you hurt her. Never again."

The man laughed mockingly and its sound stung the lurker in the shadows. "Ah, I see. You've got a thing for my girl. That's nice." The man took a step closer to him, his face only inches away. "Don't take this personal."

The fist hit his stomach before he even knew what was happening. The force of the hit brought the lurker to his knees and onto the ground. Everything became a bit blurry for a moment, and it seemed that the lurker could not get enough oxygen into his lungs, which burned from the impact. He then noticed that his hand fell neatly upon his pocket, in which he could feel something hard and small. He slipped his hand inside and pulled out a knife, the light reflecting off of its sharp, metal blade. Then the man pulled the lurker up off of the ground, as if to punch him again.

This proved a fatal mistake.

The lurker reacted all too quickly. The knife buried itself in the man's stomach. Both the man and the one holding the knife looked down at the metal blade whose curved handle was in the hand of the one seeking revenge. The blade was sheathed in the man's flesh and blood, and the lurker was stunned to the core. He pulled out the knife and stared at it in shock as he whispered:

"Oh, dear."

When he looked up at the man again, the man grabbed his shoulder, and the lurker stabbed the man again out of fear. Then it all became numb to him; almost indifferent, stabbing someone. He knew it was wrong, but he didn't care. He loved the rush it gave him, the adrenaline coursing through his veins as he stabbed the man again and again and again, over and over, letting the anger he had hidden inside for so long seep into his actions. Once more did the lurker draw the knife from its human sheath and the man began to fall backwards, onto the ground. But not before he uttered the two words in his dying breath that would change the course of the lurker's life for eternity.

"Riddle Man," the man whispered quietly in a passing breath, the words almost lost in the dead silence, rescued by the ears of the one so tortured by his feelings within.

The man fell to the bare, concrete ground in a heap at the lurker's very feet. The feet moved back a few steps from the body and the lurker threw his hands up, as if in both disbelief and shock, staring at the man's bloodied corpse in a mix of both horror and a sort of wonder. The lurker looked at his hands and at the knife clutched in one of them, covered in blood, dark and sinister. Then, at that singular moment, the lurker lost both his very logic and self.

He laughed. He laughed as he looked at the knife in his clenched hand. He laughed the body on the ground. He laughed at the situation as a whole.

Then the lurker's maniacal laughter cut off abruptly at the sound of the man's final, passing words rang in his head like a resounding gong hit over and over again.

Riddle Man... It echoed in his mind over and over, making the lurker want to cover up his ears. With every echo of the man's final word, thus came the words from the lurker's lips in a strangled voice:

"Oh, dear. Oh, dear. Oh. Dear."

Backing away, more and more, out of horror, he repeated the two strangled words again and again as the sound of a train on the tracks above grew in amplification as it neared closer and closer. It drowned out the sound of the lurker's words, carrying away the man the lurker used to be, but was no longer, as it sped past.

Leaving the distraught Edward Nygma to deal with the aftermath of the war that raged inside of him and spilled out into the very world that he had made his home.

 _ **So I have a lot of people I'd like to thank, but it would take SO much time. Therefore, I will thank one person at the very end of each chapter. This story exists because of one show, and that is the show "Gotham." I thank the geniuses behind the show and the absolutely talented Cory Michael Smith for breathing life into the character that is featured in this story. But most importantly I thank YOU, readers. This story is worth NOTHING without you guys.**_

 _ **Until next time, dearies!**_

 _ **— IfYouCantBeatEm**_


	2. One

_**Dedicated to my lovely readers: At long last.**_

 **One: Ballistics Lab**

The cold, wet wind pelted her face as she stood before the prodigious building that was the GCPD. The sky was a love song to a watercolored grayscale, and the sun shone bleakly through the dense bank of clouds. Nina Damfino was nervous, and maybe even a bit overwhelmed by the towering mass of marbled pillars and glass windows. It seemed to await her arrival.

She began to walk up the steps, her heels clicking as they hit the marble ascension. Her short, brown hair flew up in front of her face for the umpteenth time that day. She brushed it away from her eyes, and pushed it behind her ears; noting, that it was indeed an abnormally windy day. A chilly breeze hit her and she hugged her arms around her torso, clad in a white blouse, black skirt, and a long, gray trench coat, trying to keep herself warm. She could not enter the building fast enough; it was cold outside, and even though it was only the beginning of fall, it felt like the dead of winter. Reaching the doors into the building, she grunted with effort as she pushed them open to enter the warm, open space.

The first thing that she thought about the inside of the Gotham City Police Department was that it was warm. Very warm. So warm that her trench coat was no longer necessary anymore, and she slipped her arms one at a time out of the sleeves and shrugged it off, then threw it over her shoulder. After she removed the coat, she headed over to the front desk, where a blond girl was sitting, her eyes focused on the computer screen in front of her.

Nina caught a glimpse of herself in the pane of glass behind the girl before introducing herself. Her brown hair was wild and her face was red from the stinging cold of the wind. Her eyes looked bright and her physiognomy lit up because of them. She had a squared, angular face, with wide cheekbones and a strong chin. Her short hair was cut in a way that softened the harsh features. She knew that she was stunning, just not in a beautiful way.

She cleared her throat and the desk clerk looked up.

"Uh, ma'am?" Nina asked the very pretty blonde warily. "Where is the ballistics laboratory? It's, um… it's my first day here."

"Can I have your name?" The clerk chirped in a voice that was way too happy for this time of the morning.

"It's Nina. Nina Damfino." Her hands were shaking. Why were they shaking?

The clerk typed on the keyboard connected to her computer and clicked her mouse a few times, then looked up at Nina again. "Okay, Miss Damfino, I'm gonna need you to sit in front of the camera and hold still. I need to make you an identification card so you can get in and out of the building."

Nina sat in the chair that the girl patted her hand on, and faced the camera, which was turned to face her by the clerk's graceful hands. The clerk took the photo, then printed out the tag and slipped it into a hole-punched piece of plastic, along with a blank, heavy card. She then put a clip in the hole so it could be attached to Nina's blouse. Nina put it on, not looking at the picture; she already knew she looked terrible in it, so why confirm her suspicions? She just wanted to start working, so she stood up from her chair.

"Thank you, Miss..." Nina groped for a name. She had never asked for the clerk's name.

"Vance. Deidre Vance." Deidre smiled, her face lighting up. "It was nice meeting you, Nina."

"Uh, you too... Deidre."

Nina walked off to a heavy, wooden door with the words "West Entrance" on it. She scanned the dense key card and heard the satisfying "click" of the door unlocking. Before she went in, she took a deep breath and whispered to herself:

"You aren't here to make friends. You're working. Nothing else matters, especially petty things like friendship and 'love.' FOCUS."

Then she pushed the door open, grunting with the effort. Once she entered the main office, she knew she had abandoned the safety of the outside world for the interior of what could have been called "Pandora's Box."

Pandemonium ensued the moment the echo of a heavy slam from the door closing drew to a close.

 _ **So hey guys! I'm sorry that I haven't updated lately, but I've had a busy summer and beginning of school. I hoped you enjoyed this chapter. Chapter two is soon to follow. Please forgive me.**_


	3. Two

_**Dedicated to my lovely readers and my fantastic critics. I love that you spend your time reading my obsessive fanfiction and deal with my crazy conspiracy theories. Okay, MAYBE not that last one. MAYBE. Happy Gotham Monday!**_

 **Two: Desensitized**

The sound of a glove snapping against bare skin pierced the silent air and breathed life into the early risen Edward Nygma. It was very early, too early for drowsiness to be deterred by a cup of strong, black coffee, but Ed was contented. No one could tell that he had barely any sleep.

He stared at the body before him on the table, and remembered that he had work to do. It may have been really early, but it was never too early to examine the body of yet another murder victim. Being desensitized, the sight of a dead, mangled body that resulted from a heinous crime didn't bother him as much as it used to. Maybe this was what set him down on his bloody, insane path.

"Nonsense," said a voice whose owner Ed could not see. But in his gut, he knew who it was; so he turned around and looked at him.

Ed's mirror image was standing before him, no longer trapped behind the reflective surface.

"What are you doing here?" Ed asked, alarmed. His hands shook.

"What are YOU doing here?" The other Ed smirked at him, his voice and gaze taking on a patronizing edge.

"I am working."

"So am I. Because I am YOU. Have you forgotten that? You do seem to be having memory issues lately. Or maybe you're just scared of me, because you're a ghost of a man, and I am more than you will EVER be. Which one is it?"

"This isn't real. You're not real. You're just my imagination. Nothing more. Everything less."

The other Ed laughed mockingly, as if Ed was a child and not a grown man. He clicked his tongue in a degrading manner. "I'm not your imagination. I'm YOU. Get it straight, dude. Or put on your big boy pants and man the hell up."

Ed blinked and the other him had vanished into mid air; like a magician. No one was there. He sighed. _I knew it wasn't real._ So why was he shaking so badly?

 **You fool,** a voice in his head hissed. **You think that I will just leave you? Let you get away that easily? You are inane. I am ubiquitous in your mind, because I make up for the things that you lack. You are weak, where I am strong. We can help each other out. You could call it... mutualism.**

 _More like parasitism,_ Ed replied.

 **Me helping you will benefit us both. I can help you get the girl of your dreams. I can help you get the respect you deserve. I could show what fun a life without chastity is like.**

 _I've killed people. Can you get any less chaste?_ Ed felt his lower lip begin to tremble. He swallowed down all of the pain and guilt from past mistakes and it choked him.

 **You can be loved. You can be respected. You can be feared. If you let ME help you, I could make you a real power player within this city. You don't get the respect you deserve from people. But when you and I are working together in tandem, everybody will know your name and fear it. You won't be afraid of rejection, because after spending a life being rejected over and over again, you will have realised that fear was what was holding you back.** The voice spoke in such a confident and quick-witted manner that was so convincing, Ed could feel himself beginning to compromise.

 _You're right. I do not get enough respect around here. They think that I am incapable of love. But I do not understand how it is possible to be both loved AND feared. How can that be?_

 **People will love you, and with that will come the fear. They will fear you, but their puny minds won't notice that they do. Every emotion and feeling comes with a fear. A fear of darkness comes with hope. A fear of pain comes with love. They will learn to love you AND to fear you. You will have power where they will not. You will take their weaknesses and exploit them.**

 _My good sir, I do believe that you are speaking in riddles. Why?_

 **Because I am who you are destined to be. Powerful, respected, feared. Loved, but unloving, because I HAVE learned that love only pains and distracts and ends with rejection. It is just a feeling that is not resilient, and will break when the hard times come around. It is virtually useless.**

 _But you told me that I would be LOVED, as well as FEARED._ Ed was very confounded by the voice in his head that seemed to speak in riddles.

 **They will love you, but you will not love them, because you have learned what their skimpy little minds cannot even BEGIN to grasp. Because you are better than them. ALL OF THEM.** The voice boomed.

Ed felt his chest swell up with pride. He was intelligent and he felt that knowledge rush throughout his very veins.

 **Your father always thought you were lying and cheating when you excelled in school. Prove him wrong. Two can play his game.**

 _Yes. He was wrong. He was always so jealous of my abilities, because he was an old fool without brains. Why did I ever doubt you?_ Ed smiled ominously, chuckling as well.

 **Because you were naive and inane. But now you see your potential, and I have helped you notice. And I can continue to help you grow in power and knowledge, if you let me help you.**

 _And I am ready to let you help me. What are we waiting for? Let's do this._ Ed then returned back to the world that he was in, yet he hated so, leaving his thoughts of grandeur in exchange for his thoughts of the forensic intellectual and observational kind. But the voice echoed in his mind:

 **You are better than them. ALL OF THEM. They will learn to love you and to fear you.**

Shaking his head, as if to escape a daydream, he returned to his work in the morgue. When he grabbed the scalpel, visions of murder and blood from his past clouded his mind. But this time, he was not overcome with pain and guilt that would make him feel like he was drowning in murky waters, never to escape. No, instead of drowning in the waters of his past mistakes, he smiled.

He was desensitized.

 ** _Thank you for joining me on another journey through an obsessive fanfiction. I appreciate those who are reading and following and favoriting and reviewing. Your responses and your kind words are what keeps me writing. I feel as if I cannot emphasize this enough. THANK YOU! I LOVE ALL OF YOU!_**


	4. Three

_**To the lovely and dear followers, reviewers, favoriters (is this a word? no it is not; oh well). I am thankful for your patience.**_

 **Three: Chance Encounter**

She slid a delicate hand along the sturdy metal of the gun. It was cool to the touch and soft on her skin. Lifting her eyes from the gun on the bench to the wary detective behind her, Nina Damfino gave him a ghost of a smile.

"So, ma'am, are you nervous at all about working here?" The detective stuttered out.

"Why should I be?" Nina replied, eyeing him with a keen gaze. The man shifted, evading his blue eyed gaze from her own by looking down at his feet. "I mean, this is a police department. One of the safest places in Gotham, Detective Gordon."

"Not always."

"Exempting the time when the Maniax entered and killed nine police officers, and your commissioner while injuring several others."

"Let's not talk about that anymore, Miss Damfino."

Nina crossed her arms over her chest and leaned back on the bench where the gun laid. Giving him a square look, she asked Jim Gordon: "Can I help with Crime Scene Investigations?"

"I don't know," the detective replied.

"Then who can I ask?"

"I would ask Edward Nygma. He's on Forensics. But I'm not sure he will like the idea of sharing his crime scenes, mind you."

"He can grow up then."

Gordon's eyes widened with surprise. "Wow! You are feisty! I hope that makes you a better employee than the last guy who worked here. Lazy as hell, and twice as idiotic. Nothing got done around here."

"It is so very sad that all of this equipment goes to waste because the department can't hire a person of quality," the woman spoke. "But hopefully, Detective, I could be a great asset to the Strike Force as well. If, of course, that's okay with you. I know I'm asking for a lot." She let out a nervous chuckle.

"It isn't my call. Ask Captain Barnes about that. But I suggest you stick to the Weapons Lab," the detective said, looking Nina over. "You don't seem the type of person that would be an asset to our team."

"There's more to a person than their build. I'm small, but I'm fast. There's more to me than what meets the eye."

"We'll see about that, Miss Damfino." Detective Gordon suddenly stretched out his arms wide and yawned, almost hitting Nina's face in the process. Then he straightened up his posture, and left her to her work after calling out a hearty "good bye."

 _Goddamned sexist coppers,_ Nina thought, _always trying to undermine your ability because you're a woman and you are rather petite for a twenty-four year old._

Nina moved away from the bench she was leaning on and picked up the unloaded gun on it. It was light in weight, and the indentations in the handle merged with her clenched fingers in a most natural manner. She never really did feel complete until she held a gun in her hands. Then she felt more powerful than a queen and more clever than Cleopatra.

She grasped the gun with both hands, her left hand meshing with the cool, indented handle of the gun, and her right hand lying on top of it. She poised herself and shot left handed. A hole appeared near the center of the target from the bullet's impact.

"Eh," she thought. "You have done way better than that. You must be growing soft."

"Nice shot." A deep voice spoke behind Nina. She turned around to see a very tall, pale man in a dark green suit jacket over a white shirt with a purple tie and black dress pants standing in the doorway. He had brown hair combed back from his forehead and he wore glasses over dark and enigmatic eyes. His mouth was curved in a good humoured smirk.

"Uh, thanks, I guess." She was a slight bit intimidated by the tall man that had snuck up behind her so silently without her hearing.

"I'm Edward Nygma. I am the head of the Forensics department here," he said.

"Oh, Detective Jim Gordon mentioned you. I'm Nina Damfino," Nina replied, extending her hand for Nygma to shake. He obliged her, shaking her hand firmly.

"So you're the new girl," he said. "It is nice to meet you after hearing so much about you in recent days."

"Oh, they talked about me? Here? Why?" Nina was stuttering now. What the heck was wrong with her right now? She NEVER stuttered. It was foreign to her tongue.

"I don't know why. But I guess it is kind of exciting getting the top student from the forensic school at Gotham University." Nygma smiled brightly.

Nina blushed at the tall man's kind words. That was a fact she would rather have unknown; it made her kind of uncomfortable. "Most people would say that choosing to major in forensics instead of some thing more redeeming and prestigious was a stupid decision. But this is my passion. You can understand that, right?"

"Absolutely." Then he shifted his feet nervously, looking down at them, then looking back up at Nina. "Well, I need to go back to work. I just heard that the new girl arrived from some co-workers and wanted to meet you. You seem interesting." Then he turned around, about to leave, when Nina remembered some thing.

"Wait, I have a question."

Nygma turned back around and gave her an agitated look. "Whatever it is, you better tell me fast. I have work to do, you know."

Nina was taken aback by Nygma's blunt rudeness, and, for a moment, was unable to respond. But then she composed herself and spoke. "Could I possibly work with you at crime scenes? As you know, I am very qualified for that job, as well as I am for the one I have now."

"Maybe. That is my job, you know. And I do it very well. I don't know how you will fare working with dead bodies and blood," Nygma replied, looking Nina over.

"I think I'll be fine. You don't need to worry about me. Worry about yourself," she retorted.

"There's nothing to worry about."

"I dare to disagree with that."

"I'm just going to leave. I'm not a person who likes conflict. I avoid it like the plague, and so should you. Arguing only gets you in trouble."/p

"I'm not scared of you."

"That's good. You shouldn't be. I need to get back to work. Good day, Miss Damfino." After he finished speaking, Nygma turned around and walked out of the room, leaving Nina on her own, fuming.

 _What an asshole,_ she thought to herself. _But I can't let him off that easy. I need to give him a piece or two of my mind. God knows he needs it._

And with that, Nina walked out the door and followed Edward Nygma down the hall.

 _ **Thank you for reading, my loyal and wonderful readers. I love how kind you all are to me when you review. I appreciate all of the people following this story and all of those who read and don't follow. Y'all still touch my heart. Thank you for all of your kind and loving support. God knows this midnight writer needs it desperately.**_  
 _ **LOVE YOU!**_


	5. Four

_**Thank you for reading!**_

 **Four: The Ghosts of Past Mistakes**

Ed was confused by his mixed feelings. Nima Damfino was different from a lot of the girls he had met in his lifetime. Especially different from Kristen.

 **Don't think about her, you idiot,** a voice in his head said. **If we are gonna work together, you're gonna have to do what I ask.**

"Last time I let you take over, someone got killed," Ed replied, silencing the other voice. He was on his way down to the morgue again to examine the dead body for any clues that the murderer may have left on accident. He thought that maybe the man had died from poisoning, but it wasn't really clear what poison was involved. He would have to run a blood test to find out.

 _Maybe it was arsenic poisoning,_ he thought.

Ed turned the corner, and walked smack dab into the new girl. He watched as pain twisted her face, then shock. Nima rubbed her nose.

"Ow... it's great to, er, run into you again," Nima said, letting out a little laugh and looked down at her feet.

Ed gave her a slight, very shy smile. Nima looked up at him, her short hair falling in her face. He had to resist the urge to fix it, so he decided to be civil and cool.

"Yes. Well, I have to go and work. And so do you."

"You're right. I need to work. Do you have a red ball for me? Because I don't have any thing to work with."

"Can you figure out what poison killed a murder victim?"

"Uh, yeah. It's pretty simple. Let me see the victim."

"I don't think so."

"Then I can't figure it out. Just do it yourself. You are capable of doing that, right?"

Ed was annoyed. Of course he could figure out what happened to the murder victim. He wasn't stupid. He didn't need some girl's help with his own job.

"Of course. But if you want to work on the crime scene with me, you should treat me with respect," Ed retorted. The gumption of that girl!

"There's nothing to respect," Nima said matter-of-factly, her hands on her hips, her chin raised in arrogance, looking up at him.

Ed bit back an unkind sentence of choice words. He knew that being rude back would not help the situation; in fact, it might end with one of them getting injured.

"I digress. I don't like arguing with immature people."

Nima's mouth dropped open in shock. "You... you... you..."

"...need to go. You're right. Good bye, Miss Damfino."

Her face contorted into a very angry look, and it was almost scary. Ed decided to leave before she killed him. He had a feeling that being in a police department would not stop her.

Ed turned around and walked away towards the morgue. When he got to the morgue, he could feel someone was behind him. So before he turned the doorknob, he turned to look at the person behind him. It was the other him.

"You fool! She's a woman and she's paying attention to YOU. OF ALL PEOPLE! And you freaking BLEW it!" The other him yelled.

"I'm still getting over what happened with Kristen," Ed replied.

"SHE'S DEAD! Get over it; I am. I was over it when it happened."

"I loved her. You can't get over someone you loved that fast."

"It has been SIX MONTHS! Get over it and move on. No one is going to judge if you try to play the field." The other Ed crossed his arms over his chest.

"Quiet. I'm not gonna listen to you."

Ed turned back to the door into the morgue, and rotated the knob. He opened it and quickly went in, locking the door behind him. He walked over to the table where the latest victim laid, distracted only by some thing falling to the ground. He looked to the right and saw Kristen, dressed in the green sheath dress she wore on their first date.

"Then listen to me," she said, love welling in her green eyes.

Ed's heart felt like it was about to explode; the sight of her was almost too much. He looked into her eyes, tears stinging the corners of his eyes.

"Kristen... I should have saved you. I was too late." He turned his head away from her.

"That was never going to happen. We were never going to last."

"How could you say that? You said you LOVED me."

"I did. I still do. But I am gone now. Some times, when you think you had it right, you are still off. That's just how it works some times. But you need to be happy. I want you to be HAPPY. It's okay to move on."

"But..."

"Ed?" A deep voice said. Ed turned to look at the door. "Open this door please!"

Ed turned back to where Kristen had stood; but she was gone. Sadly, he walked over to the door and unlocked & opened it. Jim and Leslie stood, looking concerned.

"Are you okay, Ed?" Leslie asked with a kindness in her voice that shook Ed to his core.

Evading both of their gazes, he pushed past them. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"You look a little... you know, unhappy. Distressed," Jim said.

"I said I'm fine." He walked off swiftly, evading obstacles as best as he could, looking down at his feet.

The tears were falling on the palely painted canvas of his face.

He was any thing BUT fine.

 _ **Thanks for reading again, I hope you enjoyed it!**_

 _ **LOVE YOU GUYS!**_


	6. Five

**_It's time for another installation, dear readers! Sorry that I have been gone but school is just ARGGGHHHHHHHH! I HATE (ALMOST) EVERYTHING!_** ** _Anyway, I decided to throw in something extra: a song to pair with every chapter. Just like wine paired with food, so shall these songs enhance the flavors of each chapter._**

 ** _Song: "Greetings from Califournia" by The Neighborhood. (_** ** _Just a heads up: there will be some violence this chapter.)_**

 **Five: Dark Alleys At Nighttime Are Curious Things**

"What a jerk. I just don't understand; I mean, what did I do to him?" Nina Damfino thought to herself as she walked towards home in cold, night air. She breathed a heavy sigh and the warm air that flowed out of her mouth was visible in the dark sky, illuminated only by the flickering light of the lampposts. "Whatever. I can't change anything about him."

She looked up at the street sign as she crossed the grey paved road: _Grundy._ Nina acknowledged that this was where the apartment she was moving into was located, and decided to go grab some food before she went in to get her key. She turned into a dark alleyway, and to be cautious she pulled out a canister of pepper spray, looking to the left and to the right as she walked through the barely lit alley.

She heard a sound and saw movement out of the corner of her eye. She turned around, frightened, and held up the pepper spray canister threateningly. Nothing was there. She let out a sigh of relief and resumed her walk. Then strong arms grabbed her from behind and pushed her against a nearby wall. Nina was face to face with a man in a ski mask, his eyes and mouth the only visible attributes on his face. She could feel her limbs shaking with fear and anxiety.

"Give me all of your money, bitch." The man's voice was hard, like gravel, and he shook Nina violently. "NOW!"

"I don't have any money on me," Nina replied. "I'm not as stupid as you think."

"Stop lying and hand it over. NOW!"

"I told you: I don't have anything on me."

The man slammed her against the wall, and a high pitched ringing sounded in her ears as she fought to stay conscious. She struggled to think of ways to fight back until she remembered a move from her high school days. She moved her knee up quickly and hit the man right in between the legs. He only let go for a moment, but a moment was all it took for her to get out of his grasp. She ran away a few feet before the man lunged for her. She then grabbed one of her high heels and dug the heel into the mugger's shoulder, and he yowled in pain.

"I took self-defense classes in high school, asshole!" Nina yelled at the man, proud and nervous at the same time.

Blood began to pulse from the puncture wound, thus giving Nina a bit of time to run away from the man. She turned, getting ready to run, but she wasn't fast enough. Turning to check on the man, she saw that he had pulled out a switchblade knife, and had opened it. She was planted on the ground, unable to move out of fear. He lunged forward and the blade of the knife entered the flesh of her abdomen, penetrating deep inside. She let out a screech that was not unlike an animal's, and the pain swallowed her in its dark, twisting black hole.

The man let her go, and fearing that he might get caught, ran off, leaving the knife to clatter against the cold pavement with an resonating thud. _The damn bastard got away,_ she thought to herself. _Figures. Well, aren't dark alleys at nighttime curious things, huh, Nina?_

It was the last thing she thought before the stars swirled in the sky and were swallowed by the darkness that lingered in the corner of her eyes, along with the buildings, the surroundings, and her mind.

Faded and muffled voices awoke her without letting her open her eyes or mouth. She could only hear them saying things to each other that were strange and could not have anything to do with her. Or so she thought until she remembered that some jerk stabbed her in the right side of her abdomen because she did not carry money and would not generously let him steal it. But she digressed; this was an odd situation to be in and she was at the mercy of about two complete strangers. So she listened in to their heated conversation.

"For goodness sake... we can't take her in- stop! No, stop arguing with me! Ed, we cannot take a _girl_ in. That ruins our bachelor lifestyle. Not to mention, you have to heal her, feed her, take care of her..." said one harsh, male voice.

"This is a human life we are talking about, not a puppy," replied a kind-sounding, yet sharp voice that sounded very familiar.

"I would be more sympathetic to the puppy."

"Oswald, have a heart."

"So I can crush it in my hand?"

Even though Nina could not see what was going on, she knew that the other one called Ed was probably shaking his head. "You are unbelievable," he said.

Then, suddenly, her eyes flew open and everything became clear to her. Okay, well, maybe her vision was a little out of focus, but she could sort of make out the facial features of her two sort of rescuers. One had slightly spiky black hair and pale blue eyes and a nose that resembled a beak of sorts. The other had dark hair and dark eyes with a pale complexion. He seemed so very familiar, yet so alien to her that the lines blurred in her brain and she had to look between them to remember his face, his name...

And just as the pieces came together all at once, Edward Nygma stuck a needle full of morphine in her arm, and pushed down on the plunger top. A liquid flooded in her veins, soft and heavy like honey, and it seemed as if her bones, her nerves, her mind, everything... was dissolving and fading in between the lines of the pavement ground.

 _ **Thanks for reading! I know it has been a while but I've been busy lately with school and stuff and also my obsession with this show has waned into a normal, healthy amount of love and and has been replaced by Star Wars, as my number one fandom right now. I hope you enjoyed this. If you did, leave a comment or vote! By the way, I just logged in after like three months of not checking this stuff and y'all have been voting and adding me to your libraries like it's nobody's business! Thanks so so so much for your support! I love y'all bunches!**_


	7. Six

_**It's time, dear friends. It is time for a new part to this fanfiction. It's gonna be a short one as I kinda hit a writer's block and I'm applying for a job (le bleh). I promise to be more faithful in posting, okay?**_

 _ **Song: "Cliff's Edge (Lash Remix)" by Hayley Kiyoko.**_

 **Six: When the Kettle Whistles**

Edward Nygma was not one to hold grudges.

Okay, that was a lie. He held grudges regularly, and he would either act on them by murdering someone or let it boil in a nice pot of loathing and dispair until the kettle whistled and hurt everyone's ears.

Nina Damfino was a character, all right. He knew that for sure. She was unabashed, straightforward, and maybe even a bit of a bitch. Ed had figured this out in just one day. That was how analytical he was.

 _And sadly,_ he thought as he looked at the slip of paper that he found in her coat pocket, _she is going to live right next door to me. So now I will have to deal with her AND Oswald's BS. I'll be damned._

He turned to look at Nina, who rustled in the sheets of his bed, wearing his flannel pants and big white t-shirt with a bulky bandage protruding at her lower abdominal region. She had tossed and turned a lot over the night, which was perhaps due to the slight infection of the wound she recieved because the asshole who stabbed her didn't clean his knife recently. Ed was glad he was NOT her.

Nina rotated over to the side he was on and opened her eyes. She then raised a hand up to block the bright light, letting her eyes adjust to her surroundings for a few seconds and then looked at Ed grumpily.

"THAT is a face I never thought I would wake up to," Nina said groggily, trying to toss the covers off of herself and not succeeding. It was quite pitiful, actually.

"Well, you got stabbed and I found you, so I think gratitude is the best response to all of this," Ed replied shortly.

Nina looked down at her clothes, confused. "Where the hell are my freaking clothes?"

She didn't say freaking.

"I had to put you in different clothes because you got blood all over them."

"You REMOVED my clothes?!"

"Yes; I work with naked dead people all the time so I was not affected."

"But I am not dead."

"You were in a morphine induced coma so you pretty much were like working with a corpse."

"Thanks," she replied sarcastically.

"You could have died, you know," Ed retorted.

"That sounds a lot better than what I am going through now."

Ed groaned in frustration. Nina was not worth getting angry, because she could argue his socks off, and he knew it.

"Do you want breakfast or anything at all to eat?"

"Have you been just watching me sleep the entire time?" Nina asked, sitting up and raising an eyebrow at him.

Ed blushed and quickly replied: "No, I haven't. What makes you think that?"

"You seem like the type of person who would do that kind of thing. For 'science.'"

She had him and she knew it. Ed could see it in the smug smirk on her face.

"Well, I think I have the Riddle Man beat," Nina said after a long period of silence. Ed jumped a little bit from the sound of the nickname that... rascal used to call him. He hadn't heard it in a long time. And, come to think of it, he had never even said any riddles to Nina. So how did she know he was a quote-unquote "Riddle Man"?

"How do you know about that nickname?"

 **People talk, Nygma. People talk,** said the voice in his head that was deeper, more gravelly than his own.

 _Shut up,_ he told the voice in his head. It laughed a rough, dark laugh, slowly dissolving into an echo that soon faded out back into the enclosure in his mind where he kept it.

"A lot of people around the department say you're obsessed with riddles. They call you Riddle Man when you're not around. Which happens to be a lot, so... you should get out there. You know, more often."

 **THE NERVE OF THAT GIRL!** The voice bellowed inside of his head, and he covered his ears, as if that would silence it. He wanted to get it out, take back the promise he made to the darkness within, the darkness he was capable of, but he couldn't. He wanted to claw his own head open, take out his brain and hack out the part of him that made him want to do all those bad things to Nina. But another, deeper, darker, vengeful side of him wanted it to stay put. It did.

"Dude... are you okay?" Nina asked, prying his hands off of his ears.

"Of course. I'm fine. What do you think I am... INSANE?" Ed chuckled lightly. "Don't worry about me. What you should be worrying about is what happens when the kettle whistles. That's when things hurt."

A loud, shrill noise sounded from the kitchen, just as Ed finished his inane ramblings. Nina looked at him, wide eyed with worry.

"Is that all that happens?" Nina started to back up, away from the slightly scary Edward Nygma.

"Of course. I was just joking. I'll get you some tea." And with that, Ed got up and left the room.

"It wasn't really that funny," Nina mumbled before he left the door frame. Ed looked down, almost ashamed that he was almost willing to pour that boiling water all over the wounded, defenseless girl.

 _ **Thanks for all of the love you guys have given me! I appreciate every single comment you have left on my story and all the votes. Thanks once again for the support! Hopefully, you will see my name in your inboxes very soon for a new update to this story! Buh bye!**_

 _ **\- itstheemcat**_


	8. Seven

_**Thank you to all of my supporters, both on YouTube**_ _ **and on Wattpad. I really appreciate it a lot! I'm so excited for y'all to read this new chapter! Song of the chapter: "Take Me Out" by Happy Sometimes.**_

Chapter 7: Last Goodbyes

Nina Damfino watched Ed as he walked over to the kitchen counter. Without meaning to, her eyes flitted down to his posterior then back up as he turned around to look at her, kettle letting out a loud whistle as the water within it boiled. He quickly turned back to grab the kettle off of the stove and poured the contents of it into the two mugs with tea bags in them on the table. Nina waited expectantly for the cup of tea to be brought to her, but Edward Nygma was not that kind of a soul. She got out of bed and hobbled over to the table, sitting down slowly in the chair before her, as he watched her intently.

"So... we are going to go to somewhere today," Edward said matter-of-factly, taking a dainty sip of his generic brand black tea.

"Good to know. Where are we going?" Nina asked.

"Somewhere."

Nina's hatred meter went up just a few more points. She abhorred it when people didn't tell her what to expect. She crossed her arms and sulked for a little bit as Ed grabbed a pile of clothes that looked a lot like hers, and slid them across the table to her. In fact... they were HERS!

She grabbed them from the table as quick as possible and blushed as she saw her underwear was in the pile. Nina DID NOT want to think of Ed rummaging through her underwear drawer. She had already been traumatized enough by his eerie capability of coordinating a decent looking outfit. It was a pair of black, quilted leggings, a midnight blue, long-sleeved t-shirt, and a leather motorcycle jacket. She didn't want to think about the bra he put in there. It was her least favorite one, the one that always sagged on one side and held up the other. And it was pink, to make matters worse.

"Thanks... I guess?" Nina was still extremely mortified that he had went through her underwear drawer.

"You're welcome. And as you can probably guess, that was not a thing I wanted to do. You know, go through your—"

"Ay yi yi!" Nina exclaimed, covering over her ears. "Not listening! Just please let me get dressed without you hanging around."

"The bathroom is in the bedroom. It's all yours."

Nina pushed the chair back and stood up, stretching her arms up and yawning. She pushed the chair back in, and holding the pile of clothes, walked back to the room and into the bathroom to get dressed and take a shower.

Flecks of rain hit the window on the passenger side of the car Nina was in, and she gazed at them lazily. The moist, cold air of rainy weather seemed to flood into the car, and Ed had not made a move to turn on the air conditioning. Not that she minded; she liked the cold air and the way it felt on her skin.

She could see in the corner of her eye a young girl and boy lying on the ground. They were in all black, and she thought she could recognize Bruce Wayne. But maybe she was hallucinating, and she wasn't going to plague Ed with her stupid theories.

Ed had stopped the car suddenly, shocking her out of her rainy daze. He got out, went around the car, and then opened the door for her. She got out, and looked him over with a subtlety that would slip under any one's nose. He was wearing a pair of blue jeans, flannel shirt, and a black trench coat, which hung loosely over his shirt. She was beginning to notice little things about him, even though she had only fully seen him about two days. But she could remember cloudy memories, scattered bits and pieces of the other two days she had missed, going in and out of consciousness.

Warm, long fingers touching against her throbbing forehead. Late at night, his fingers on her wrist, searching for a steady pulse. A needle attached to a tiny cylinder, filled with clear liquid, inserted into the vein in her arm and filling her body with heavy liquid, sending her to sleep. A small man sitting next to Edward Nygma, playing piano.

Was it really just TWO days that she missed? It seemed so long ago that the man...

"Are we gonna get going to the place that I need to go or are you just gonna be mean and stand there?" Ed asked, swiping his hand up and down, cutting through the air right before her face. Nina's train of thought was stopped and she gave him a glare. No matter how many manners he carried himself with, she still hated him immensely.

"I'm... sorry?" Nina said, irritated at him once more. She didn't care how many times he saved her life.

He rolled his eyes. "Let's get moving." He led her to the gate and as she looked up, she saw the ironwork on the top of the gate. It was Arkham Asylum.

"What the hell are we doing here?"

"Visiting someone."

Edward grabbed her hand and she yanked it away in shock. He gave her a long look and then turned back towards the asylum, with Nina following close behind.

 _Why the hell are we here? What could be so important about a place full of criminal maniacs?_ Nina thought.

Edward went to the front desk and handed the female secretary a slip of paper, slipping his hands into his pockets and shifting his weight onto each leg. The lady handed him back the paper and gestured towards the hall on the left. He walked down the hall, with Nina following, until he turned a corner and walked into a room with a phone on one side and a glass pane separating the two from the person in striped sitting there. Nina peered closer and recognized the man hunched over in the chair.

"Oswald... Cobblepot? But... why?"


End file.
